Denmark To Consider Gay Marriage

Denmark will consider legalizing gay
marriage – including church weddings – early next year.

The coalition government has announced
plans to introduce a bill in January. If approved, gay and lesbian
couples will be allowed to marry and hold weddings in the Church of
Denmark.

In 1989, Denmark legalized registered
partnerships for gay couples – the first country to do so – but
such unions are not allowed to be celebrated in the church.

Manu Sareen, the coalition government's
church minister, told Copenhagen-based daily Jyllands-Posten (The
Copenhagen Post) that he expects his legislative proposal to be
approved.

“The first same-sex weddings will
hopefully become reality in Spring 2012. I look forward to the
moment the first homosexual couple steps out of the church. I'll be
standing out there throwing rice.”

“I have many friends who are
homosexuals and can't get married. They love their partners the same
way heterosexuals do, but they don't have the right to live it out in
the same way. That's really problematic.”

Henrik Hojlund, chairman of the
Evangelical Lutheran Network, said he opposes the plan, calling it
“fatal for the church.”

Polls show that a large majority (69%)
of Danes support allowing gay couples to marry in the church.